Marked by Death

Marked by Death (2020) Kaje Harper (Necromancer)

Set in an alternate 1963.

Darien is out of alternatives. Demons or ghosts, whatever keeps invading his mind and body is quickly driving him crazy. So he seeks out the town’s necromancer, in the hope he’ll be able to help.

Silas has power, but he doesn’t have any real friends. When Darien shows up on his doorstep, he can’t refuse him help. But his familiar sees more between Silas and Darien than just a young man struggling with the ghosts possessing him.

This was an interesting story. I’m not sure the early 60s were a time that particularly needed revisited, even with a fantasy overlay, but it’s interesting to have a world without our modern technology, but a familiar history–including sodomy laws.

The weakness of this story is that is covers a tremendous amount of ground for a novella–from the world building to the characters to the mystery of the local demon gathering power. So at times it felt rushed. At the very least I’d have expected Darien to need more time to learn the basic of protective skills.

But it was interesting, and I did like the characters, and I enjoyed the story.

Rating: 7/10

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